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Faciltating access to digital content

This presentation gives a brief history of the rise and rise of digital content, and the challenges to libraries. In particular it focuses on the challenges facing school libraries in their management of digital content – some of which are shared with other types of libraries, and some of which are quite specific to our sector. The Schools Catalogue Information Service (SCIS) as a key service provider and partner with Australian and New Zealand school libraries is committed to helping schools deal with collection management issues.

This presentation gives a brief history of the rise and rise of digital content, and the challenges to libraries. In particular it focuses on the challenges facing school libraries in their management of digital content – some of which are shared with other types of libraries, and some of which are quite specific to our sector. The Schools Catalogue Information Service (SCIS) as a key service provider and partner with Australian and New Zealand school libraries is committed to helping schools deal with collection management issues. One of the questions we all face at the moment is: Can the principles and standards that have served well for physical resources also be applied to digital resources?

First let me introduce the organisation that SCIS is part of. Education Services Australia as a national organisation that operates collaboratively in the interests of all education systems. At the moment its main work is around providing robust infrastructure and resources to support the Australian Curriculum. You may recognise some of the services and websites developed and hosted by ESA.Education Services Australia (ESA) is a national, not-for-profit company owned by all Australian education ministers. The company was established to support delivery of national priorities and initiatives. ESA is in a unique position as we are a publisher and provider of content as well as of metadata records for e-books. “Education Services Australia (ESA) procures and licenses digital resources on demand. These include: interactive multimedia resources, combining still and moving images, text, audio and animation interactive formative assessment resources resources sourced from national and international, cultural and private collections.ESA makes resources searchable through the application of metadata. Compliance with agreed technical standards ensures that the digital content can be accessed and used across Australia on a range of hardware and technical platforms.”http://www.esa.edu.au/services/digital-content

It is hard to believe that the Kindle only came out in 2007, the same year as the i-Phone, Android smartphones 2008 and the iPad was launched in 2010. In 2012, according to Cisco (2013), the number of mobile-connected tablets increased 2.5-fold in one year to 36 millionFollowing the progress and development of e-reading and the management of digital content for some years, it is obvious that there has been a massive cultural shift in the last five years which has had an enormous impact on reading, viewing and listening.We believe that before library staff can support the implementation of e-books and digital content in our schools and libraries we must immerse ourselves in the feel of reading on a device, of downloading and listening to digital music and of viewing digital texts and content. Cisco 2013, ‘Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2012–2017’ Cisco Visual Networking Index, Cisco. Available: http://cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-520862.pdf

Definition of ‘digital content’ from the Library of Congress National Digital Stewardship Alliancehttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/ndsa-glossary.html “Any arbitrary item created, published or distributed in a digital form, including, but not limited to, text, data, sound recordings, photographs and images, motion pictures and software.”Digital content typically refers to music, information and images that are available for download or distribution on electronic media. Sometimes referred to as digital media

There is a huge danger when talking about digital content of assuming that everyone knows what we mean, or worse that everyone uses content the same way we do. There is in fact great diversity and several factors need to be clarified before talking to anyone about e-books and digital content, and especially before offering any advice – or committing any money!PurposeWhat do you want to use digital content for? What purpose do you have in mind, or problems are you looking to solve?FormatWhat type of content are you considering? There are significant differences in terms of selection, purchase and management if we are talking about e-textbooks where multiple copies are required for a long period of time, fiction or narrative e-books and audio bookswhere you want to read or listen in a linear fashionNonfiction content where search and navigation options are importantPicture books and reference books – all have specific issuesFunctionHow are you planning to implement digital content?Who is going to own the content? Parents or the school? Type of library primary and secondary schools have different needs. Need to be careful that you are looking at titles and platforms relevant to schools – not just in terms of content but also management and ownership models. Consider what your students have available through their public library, and whether you need to duplicate that in the school.Educational ortrade publishers vs popular/commercialAre you looking for popular, new release fiction or primary school nonfiction texts, or supporting a senior secondary Australian literature course? Don’t expect one publisher or digital content supplier to offer everything you need.Devices and compatibility with library systemsit is a reality that the software and hardwareis far from standardised, and those considering digital content must deal in a very complex environment.

Discussion: Discuss with the people around you where you are up to in your digital content journey what learning goals your school can address with digital content what barriers need to be addressed for successful program

In the same way that there are diverse e-book and digital content options, libraries themselves operate under a myriad of conditions, and a one size fits all approach to selecting, purchasing, licensing and managing content is not appropriate. There are a number of factors that will influence how a particular school approaches this change.CommunityConsider who you are serving, and what your students and teachers are asking for or need. Have you surveyed them about their interest in digital content, what experience they have, and what devices and software are they are using?BudgetsLibrary budgets vary widely between schools – and this will affect the scale to which a school can develop digital content. Most platforms require funds each year – basically a subscription model – so reliable, sustainable funding is necessary, not just a one-off startup or innovation special grant. InfrastructureFor many schools there are still hardware issues, outdated library management systems and frustratingly slow access to the internet. Solving these issues and changing the way we operate in schools will take time.PoliciesA policy change or special project budget can change things very quickly.Last month the NSW Department of Education announced a new library system and e-book platform for all its 2,243 schools starting in June 2013.If a policy change like this occurred in your school or state next month, would you be ready? Have you started using e-readers for your own personal reading across a range of genres – not just fiction, so that you know the issues and benefits that digital content presents?CrozierRy 2013 ‘NSW pushes eBooks, BYOD for public schools’ ITNews, www.itnews.com.au/News/338090,nsw-pushes-ebooks-byod-for-public-schools.aspx (2 April 2013)

One of the most important messages you can take away from this session is that while your students and teachers can use a search engine to find millions of onlineresources, this search will return everything online EXCEPT the very resources that your school or system has actually selected and paid for.If you are going to invest in e-books and digital content you need to think about how users will find these. I would strongly suggest the library catalogue is the logical place.

The school library catalogue is in most schools the only place where users can search for school-owned/licensed resources all in one place. The student or staff member seeking books, information and learning resources expects to do one search and for that search to return all relevant material available to them, regardless of its format or its location. This holy grail of single point of search assumes an integrated set of search results, which requires integrated metadata.

Why making digital content discoverable through school library catalogues is a priority.For a long time a priority for library staff has been to organise the physical library space in ways that are attractive, encourages users to visit, to explore and make it easy for them to find what they need, assist browsing for inspiration. We work to make location and lending of resources as seamless and self-service as possible.We now have additional responsibilities. As well as serving our users who are visitors, browsers and borrowers of physical items in a physical library space, we now also serve our library users accessing and downloading resources in virtual spaces.

The Schools Catalogue Information Service has been supplier of catalogue records for almost all Australian and New Zealand schools for the past 25 years. Firstly – it is important that digital content is catalogued (ie described). This means they can be searched for and found by users.There are currently over 9000 e-book records in SCIS.This slide shows a search of the SCIS online catalogue for the subject term ‘E-books’. All catalogue records for e-books are assigned this subject heading, to make it easier for users to restrict searches by e-book format.(Note: There are slightly more records with the equivalent ScOT term, as the SCIS term was established later).

As new formats have evolved SCIS standards have had to be updated. In November 2010 the SCIS Information Services Standards Committee (ISSC) ratified a new edition of the SCIS Standards for Cataloguing and Data Entry with a new section 5.E added to deal with e-books. With the introduction of RDA in 2013 SCIS standard are being rewritten yet again and like RDA will format will cease to be the organizing principle

SCIS Catalogue is a valuable starting point for school staff looking to identify books, digital resources and websites to support the curriculum. While providing catalogue records is core business, SCIS recognises the value of enhancing the catalogue record where possible with any information that may help school staff discover and review resources of interest. Subscribers are encouraged to use SCIS Catalogue as a selection aid to locate resources that are required for a particular purpose in a school.

What is an app? App is an abbreviation for application software which runs on the Internet or a computer. The term app came into prominence with the introduction of the mobile devices and smart phones. Generally they perform one dedicated task.Increasingly it has been suggested Apps will be the new way to surf the net. Indeed some libraries are turning to apps to enable smartphone users to easily access their services.With the ubiquity of tablets, smartphones and ‘phablets’ and the move towards ‘bring your own device’ in schools, apps are becoming resources utilised by students and teachers.GarageBand, Know your skin and iMovie are good examples are examples of iPad apps being used in Education.Apps is a new subject heading just introduced to SCIS this termNote also that currently the GMD for an app is [electronic resource]An App is more than a Apple Product available on iTunes, other providers offer apps on various browsers and devicesCynthia Karena, January 17, 2013,Move over browsers, apps are the new way to surf the net, http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/move-over-browsers-apps-are-the-new-way-to-surf-the-net-20130117-2cvn4.html#ixzz2TWeIjGlD

Here is a SCIS record for a website.There are over 12,000 website catalogue records available on the SCIS database covering a wide range of subjects. Many schools have incorporated websites into the library catalogue for easy access by staff and students. While all these website records can be searched through SCIS Catalogue, there is also an option within special order files that helps in finding and selecting website records.In advanced search you can restrict your search for websites on a subject by using website as second search string using the qualifier GMD. You can also use electronic resources as a filter on a keyword search.

How many of you are using Scootle? Scootle helps teachers to find, organise and use digital resources from partners in national cultural and collection agencies, open-ended tools for teachers and students to create learning resources, interactive assessment resources, work samples, collections of curriculum resources and teacher ideas and units of work.The content is indexed using the subject headings of the Schools Online Thesaurus, an agreed Australian vocabulary of curriculum topics and terms. Search results can be viewed on timelines and Google maps, providing new ways for teachers to discover relevant resources, and also to construct challenging learning experiences for students.The Australian Curriculum in ScootleScootle has made finding and using digital resources aligned to the Australian Curriculum easy for teachers. Teachers can browse the Australian Curriculum at the content descriptions and elaborations level. The matching digital resources are quality assured and include activities for students, teacher support materials and interactive assessment resources.

Schools can obtain individual SCIS library catalogue records for National Digital Learning Resources Network learning objects (previously known as The Le@rning Federation (TLF) learning objects) via SCISWeb by using the learning object ID (eg L5905) as the SCISWeb order number or by downloading records for the entire collection of current learning objects using the most recent special order file.SCIS records for all NDLRN learning objects can be obtained from SCISWeb Special Order Files. By selecting the Process order now button a file of SCIS catalogue records is then available to be saved for uploading into the school&apos;s library management system. The file includes learning objects only; it does not include digital resources records.This is a large file of 3000 resources talk to SCIS or your LMS vendor and test a few records first.Phonetics endeelearn

SCIS is dealing with the expansion of audio books which have moved on in audio-cassette collections to CDs and now to streaming audio and MP3 filesOver the years SCIS has used a variety of standards for cataloguing audio books or sound recordings (non musical) and there has been a lack of consistency. At present Audio Book is a good keyword search term and again it is worthwhile to apply filters We are preparing a paper to use Audio books as a subject heading consistent with our approach to other digital content

Again digital video reflects the rapidly changing technology - the current GMD is videorecording which covers DVDs, digital video and Clickview records. There is no ISBNs with most digital content and the only way to tell the difference between formats of videorecordings is to look at the physical description field DVD or MPEG – hopefully not VHS or Beta!

The digital format which is generating most interest at the moment is e-booksThere are currently over 9000 e-book records in SCIS. SCIS has e-books as a subject headingThis slide shows a search of the SCIS online catalogue for the subject term ‘E-books’. All catalogue records for e-books are assigned this subject heading, to make it easier for users to restrict searches by e-book format.(Note: There are slightly more records with the equivalent ScOT term, as the SCIS term was established later).Use a regularly updated site like the NZERT wiki (http://nzert.wikispaces.com) to come up to speed with e-book issues, and find out which devices are compatible with which e-book platforms, and which e-book platform is compatible with which library system.

One of the first questions cataloguers ask is whether the item on their screen to be catalogued is in fact an e-book?For example Alice for the iPad, http://www.atomicantelope.com/alice contains both the original full text and an abridged version of Alice in Wonderland, each with animated pictures.So for a cataloguer the question is: How much multimedia content can there be in the e-book version of Alice before it becomes an app, or before it becomes a videorecording – both of which will have different rules for cataloguing.And how much user interactivity before it is better described as an interactive resource? Is an e-book a learning object?

In March 2013 I attended the ALIA e-books and e-Lending Think Tank in Melbourne, which was designed to help shape the sector’s response and thoughts to the policy and commercial challenges. Leaders from a number of library sectors with experience of the e-book situation in public, school, academic and special libraries attended. There are 5 main areas which libraries need to address when considering e-books – can really be applied to all digital media. 1.Digital Rights Management2. content3. procurement4. operations5. lending and accessALIA (2013). ‘E-books and e-Lending issues paper’ http://www.alia.org.au/advocacy/Ebooks.and.Elending.Issues.Paper.v4.130107.pdf (7 January 2013).

SCIS catalogues e-books from a number of publishers and vendors. In most cases schools are unable to send e-books to their SCIS cataloguing agency (due to digital rights and access restrictions) so we are reliant on publishers and e-book system providers for the access that allows us to catalogue e-books. If you can’t locate a record for an e-book that you have purchased, contact SCIS promptly and we will investigate how to obtain e-books from this publisher for cataloguing.As e-book titles may be available from more than one e-book supplier SCIS is in the process of changing its cataloguing standards to favour provision of provider-neutral e-book records that do not link to a specific supplier. SCIS regularly catalogues e-books from the following e-book providers and vendors.

Libraries who have no budgets or experience with e-books might like to get started with free e-books.SCIS catalogues Project Gutenberg [http://gutenberg.net.au] and public domain e-book material on request from schools if they are seen to be relevant to curriculum or literature programs across a range of schools.Search the SCIS Catalogue for Project Gutenberg e-books What are the issues with free e-books?

While it is relatively easy to describe the content and format of an e-book, it can be challenging to describe the e-book location in a way that is meaningful to the catalogue searcher at your particular location. SCIS can add a note that subscription is required to access a resource. In some cases where a series is widely used nationally such as The National Digital Learning Resources Network learning objects a special resolver service can help direct users from the catalogue to the item in Scootle.However, in the case of most subscription services, schools will need to add additional notes related to their own access path. This may be different depending on whether the user is in the library, elsewhere on the school network or accessing remotely.The 856 field URL link provides access to the resourceFor e-book lending platforms the URL link will be unique for each school, and SCIS cannot provide this specific link. While some older e-book records do have links to a particular platform, this practice has changed in preference of vendor neutral records with no 856 added in the SCIS record. Schools will need to consider the workflow for importing metadata from their e-book vendor into their library system, then importing SCIS (or other MARC) records to enhance this metadata without losing your school-specific URL.

Wheelers Books provide SCIS records to all orders from SCIS subscriber schools. There is an option to tick when ordering titles from Wheelers to ensure SCIS records are available.

Schools using OverDrive can email SCIS: scisinfo@esa.edu.au with details of titles that are not found on SCIS and records will be created to ensure consistency with their existing catalogue records.Schools will need to discuss workflow for matching and enhancing MARC records with Overdrive and their particular library system to ensure the school’s specific link is retained. The goal is for students and teachers who find an e-book in the library catalogue to get to the content with one click.

Thanks to Suzanne Cory High School for screenshot of their OPAC showing e-book records

Some e-book vendors provide alternative ways for schools to display, promote and manage e-book and media collections for their community. These can offer benefits of single sign on and additional content and presentation options. This is an excellent additional access point, and very easy for the user who knows they want an e-book. However it is not a replacement for including e-books in the school’s catalogue where it will be found by users who do not realise an e-book version is available.

Under the Curriculum Press imprint, Education Services Australia (ESA) publishes, licenses, markets and distributes educational and professional development resources, within Australia and internationally, to support schools, teachers and school communities to implement teaching and learning programs.Products are marketed directly to schools, online and through seminars and conferences.ESA recognises the issues for school use caused by DRM and licence conditions of online suppliers, and have opted for a no DRM for e-book sales to Australian and New Zealand schools. This is specifically so schools can manage e-books through their library management system.

The Ancient Egypt e-book is one example of a born digital e-book publication.It is a lively text with illustrations, maps and engaging activities that will make history come to life for Year 7 students exploring the ancient world.Currently the Curriculum Press site enables you to order directly through Google Books or iTunes.We are interested in what your experience is as a consume if you have ordered e-books via Google or iTunes.

E-book licences vary between publishers, platforms etc. Library staff need to read and understand licences as they are all quite different.For instance, Curriculum Press allows reproduction across five devices and also allows the text to be screened on a computer screen or whiteboard in a classroom.If in doubt, ask.

Faciltating access to digital content

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Facilitating access todigital content in schoolsMay 2013

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• A not-for-profit, ministerial company established to provideservices to the Standing Council on School Education andEarly Childhood (SCSEEC)• Assists with the infrastructure and content to supportimplementation of national initiatives such as the AustralianCurriculum and National Professional Standards for Teachers• Existing services: SCIS, Curriculum Press, myfuture, edu.audomain registrar, ScootleEducation Services Australiaesa.edu.au

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Where are we at?Cuddling with multiple devices by Jeremy Keith 2011, CC-by

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• How do we provide users with seamless access fromcatalogue record to digital content?• If you create or acquire digital content what strategy doyou have for cataloguing it?• What is the demand for e-books and digital content inyour school community?• What is your school’s plan for integrated access to alllearning resources?Discussion